Status: 🔴 A Christian media review site that publishes anti-trans content — including calling gender-affirming care “living into a lie and straying from God” — and receives funding from fossil fuel billionaire Phil Anschutz’s foundation. Movieguide rates films using “homosexual worldview” as a content warning category.
Movieguide is an American Christian media review website and biweekly magazine founded in 1985 by Ted Baehr.[1] It is published by the Christian Film and Television Commission (CFTVC), a division of Good News Communications, Inc., and evaluates motion pictures and entertainment from a “Biblical perspective” on their suitability for family consumption.[1:1]
Movieguide rates movies using two separate metrics: a quality rating (1 to 4 stars) and an acceptability rating (ranging from +4 “exemplary” to −4 “abhorrent”). The acceptability rating evaluates what Movieguide calls the “dominant worldview” of the film — categorizing content as “biblical, Christian, environmentalist, humanist, romantic, socialist, homosexual, false religion, New Age/Pagan” and more.[2]
Movieguide has published content explicitly attacking transgender people and gender-affirming care. A 2025 investigation by Atmos and HEATED identified that Movieguide has written gender-affirming care is “living into a lie and straying from God” and that “true satisfaction can only come from Christ.”[3]
This is consistent with Movieguide’s broader anti-LGBTQ+ framework. The outlet uses “Ho” (homosexual worldview) as a content warning in its film ratings, alongside warnings for “feminist,” “environmentalist,” and “humanist” worldviews.[2:1][4] The New Yorker has described Movieguide’s award show as a platform that “promote[s] a specific culture-war agenda” and noted its increased politicization following funding from right-wing donors.[4:1]
Movieguide is a recipient of funding from Phil Anschutz, the billionaire fossil fuel magnate worth $16.9 billion.[3:1] Anschutz’s foundation has donated to Movieguide as part of his broader network of at least nine conservative transphobic entities that he funds.[3:2]
Anschutz made his fortune in oil and gas, and the Anschutz Family Foundation has also donated $110,000 to Alliance Defending Freedom, $30,000 to Family Research Council, and funded Colorado Christian University, the Council for National Policy, Sky Ranch, and Dare 2 Share Ministries.[3:3][5]
Since 1993, Movieguide has hosted an annual “Faith and Values Awards Gala” in Beverly Hills, California. The stated purpose is to “encourage filmmakers and television producers to bring the world a more positive, uplifting, and spiritually meaningful entertainment product.”[6]
The gala attracts conservative Hollywood figures and has become, according to the New Yorker, a flashpoint for “the year of the conservative beauty contest” — a platform where right-wing culture war priorities are amplified under the guise of family values.[4:2]
Ted Baehr (born 1946) is an American media critic and chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission. He graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College, holds a Juris Doctor from NYU Law, and was ordained as a bishop. He has appeared on Oprah, Fox News, CNN, and The 700 Club and has lectured at Oxford, Yale, and the European Parliament.[1:2]
Movieguide operates through multiple channels: